EMA January / February Newsletter

H&M and EMA Want Your Ripped T-Shirts

Spring is on the horizon, and many of you will be cleaning out your closet. While you might be aware of donating old clothes to places such as thrift stores and clothing banks, what about the clothes that can't be resold? We're talking about your shirt with the impossible stain, those single socks in your drawer (where the other one goes, no one knows), and your lucky pants that don't fit anymore. No giggles, but we're even talking about your used underwear.

Good news! There's a scenario where these clothes don't end up in a landfill. Same as you recycle your plastic, paper, and glass products, you can recycle unwanted garments. Where does one recycle clothes? At any H&M store.

To raise awareness for its garment collecting program, H&M teamed up with EMA to produce three PSAs for social media. The PSAs feature EMA Board Members Malin Akerman, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Karrueche Tran, and Constance Zimmer. Our goal is to get as many people as possible avoiding a landfill and recycling their unwanted clothes, towels, and sheets.

Share Our Three Videos on Social!

How it Works

After watching our PSAs, take a bag of unwanted clothes and towels to any H&M garment-collecting box - there's a box in every H&M across the globe. Now, H&M's business partner I:CO takes over. They collect the boxes, and then sort the content into three categories:

Rewear - clothing that can be worn again will be sold as second-hand clothes.

Reuse - old clothes and textiles will be turned into other products, such as cleaning cloths.

Recycle - everything else is turned into textile fibers and used for new clothes in their H&M Conscious line and for things like insulation.

Since the launch of the Garment Collecting Initiative in spring 2013, H&M has collected more than 163 million lbs. of textiles globally. Just think, those clothes would've ended up in a landfill.

When you donate a bag of clothes at any H&M, you'll receive a coupon for 15% off your next purchase - perfect to use on H&M's Conscious Line.

H&M's Sustainability Goals Highlighted at Launch Party

We launched our PSA campaign with a party and panel discussion at H&M's location on Sunset. The discussion, moderated by EMA Board Member Constance Zimmer, focused on H&M's sustainability goals and EMA's role in helping them spread the message. Panelists included Debbie Levin, CEO EMA; Emily Scarlett, Head of US Communications and Sustainability H&M; Akshay Sethi, CEO of Ambercycle; and EMA Board Member Malin Akerman.

H&M has been a leader in the fashion sector when it comes to sustainable fashion. While the industry has a long way to go, EMA is proud to partner with such an ambitious company that has a goal of being 100% circular - leading its sector. This includes expanding the lifespan of their products as well as only using recycled or other sustainable sourced materials.

EMA Corporate Board Sets a Regenerative Green Economy as its Goal

EMA Corporate Board Looks Beyond Sustainability

In a cozy conference room in Yountville, our EMA Corporate Board set a higher standard than sustainability: a regenerative green economy. Taking the lead from regenerative agriculture - kudos to Kathy Kellogg, Director of Sustainability & Co-Owner Kellogg Garden Products, for the idea - and expand it to apply to all business. Is a regenerative economy possible? Our Corporate Board thinks so, and so should you.

During a productive meeting spearheaded by our exceptional Corporate Board Chair Doug Coleman, we discussed why sustainability isn't enough. What rate of balance do we wish to sustain? From rampant climate change to plastics in our oceans, there’s room for improvement. We can do better! Let's make business decisions that are circular, removing waste and pollution from the equation and creating new products from what used to end up in a landfill.

It's Called ProgressA regenerative economy is an ambitious goal, and we should be careful to talk about it as ongoing and acknowledge the immense work yet to be done. Even the greenest companies have room for improvement, which is why we frame accomplishments as a step towards a goal, not a victory. It's EMA's role to acknowledge and encourage such efforts.

Delivering the MessageOne of the difficulties discussed during our meeting was how to deliver the message. Many companies are stepping up and making the right commitments, but is the market aware? The challenge isn’t that these companies aren’t doing the right things, it’s that they are talking about it themselves.

That’s why it’s critical to have a trusted and capable third-party voice such as EMA to tell the story for them. Over the past thirty years, EMA has proven to be the most effective voice to deliver this message.

EMA has the audience, network, and storytelling abilities to get the message out to millions, but we can't do it without the right content! By connecting to the business world at a personal level via our Corporate Board, we can learn about what they are accomplishing and can better tell that narrative.

Help us find the best ideas for our challenge! Please forward our submissions page to your network. Enjoy the excitement of our "shark-tank" pitch contest by attending our EMA IMPACT Summit happening May 29-30 at the Montage Beverly Hills (early bird tickets are still available).

Social Sunday Highlights

﻿Each Sunday, the EMA community shares an optimistic story on social media. From a new plastic ban to a conservation win, these stories are meant to give people hope among a news cycle that's too often doom and gloom. Click the images below to share!

Our mission is to provide a unified voice for our planet through entertainment, storytelling, and education.